Beyond The Checkered Flag

Imagine yourself going from zero to 100 in under three seconds, traveling at top speeds of over 220 miles per hour with so much aerodynamic downforce you can literally drive upside down. Whether it’s a live viewing of the new car, raffling off driver memorabilia, or sharing a driver’s behind the scenes story, Lotus Renault GP propels its Formula One (F1) fans to be up  close and personal through social media.

As social media takes the world by storm, businesses are realizing they too must participate in the social dialogue. And why not? The rewards can be limitless—the ability to extend their reach with customers, build and nurture relationships, and let’s face it, grow revenue. Lotus Renault GP understands the value of social media and is embracing it.

In the October CIO Digest article, “5 Ways to be Socially Cool,” I had the opportunity to talk with Lotus Renault GP director of IS/IT Graeme Hackland and IT manager Michael Taylor about their social media strategy and how they are reducing the risks associated with it. And like a good race strategy, it’s essential to the business of winning a race, or losing it.

Turbocharged safety harness

According to Hackland, social media has turned everyone into a journalist. And knowing that a spike in tweets occurred 15 minutes after an internal announcement was made is very important for them to prevent data loss.Having better visibility is the key driver—and the ability to monitor social media conversations and enforce policies is critical.

To maintain traction control of Lotus Renault GP’s social media access, identify and track users, and log conversations, Hackland and his team turned to Symantec partner Actiance for its cloud-based Socialite solution. For additional torque, they are also leveraging the integration between Actiance’s Socialite and Symantec Enterprise Vault to export social media conversations into an archive that allows the dialogue to be searched and retrieved as requirements arise.

To learn more about how Lotus Renault GP delivers its fans fuel-injected F1 highlights while minimizing social media risks, read the entire article, “5 Ways to be Socially Cool.”